In Search of Max Weber's New Prophets

Abstract

One hundred years ago, Max Weber postulated in his seminal work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism that after a tremendous development, capitalism would either reach a dead end, or would enter a new era of development through the guidance of new prophets (Weber, [1904] 2003:182). The tremendous development foreseen has occurred but have Weber’s new prophets appeared? Through a close analysis of the context in which the word prophet is found in the Bible and through the description that Weber gave to the concept of prophet in The Sociology of Religion (Weber, 1963) a prophet’s ideal type was constructed with fourteen specific characteristics. This ideal type was then used as a grid of analysis to put to the test the nineteen most renowned leadership gurus, potential candidate to the title of prophet.